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LAWRENCE – Beginning with legendary Kansas City jazz vocalist Deborah Brown and ending with a performance at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Partnership for the Arts is pleased to announce its 2017-2018 season.

With more than 15 performances offering a diverse mix of musical styles and pairings, the season will feature the world-class talents of University of Kansas School of Music faculty and students, visiting artists and musicians from around the region. Along with a spring performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., concerts will be held in Lawrence, Topeka, Overland Park and Kansas City, Missouri.

In its eighth season, the concert series is a partnership between Reach Out Kansas, Inc., the Law Offices of Smithyman & Zakoura, Zakoura Family Foundation and the KU School of Music. All of the performances in the concert series are open to the public and most are free of charge.

A season highlight will be the world premiere of Kevin Walcyzk’s Symphony No. 5 “Freedom from Fear: Images from the Shoreline” at the Kennedy Center on April 29. The University of Kansas Wind Ensemble, conducted by Paul W. Popiel, and Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Dan Gailey, will combine to perform this new work. The performance will also feature “Palos Nuevos: The Jazz/Flamenco Project,” a work composed by Gailey and choreographed by KU Dance Chair Michelle Heffner Hayes which premiered in 2017 at the Lied Center of Kansas.

The season opens Friday, Sept. 8 with a concert by Brown, vocals, and alumnus Nick Weiser, piano, performing with KU Jazz Combo I featuring Dan Gailey and Matt Otto, saxophone.

Other concert series highlights include a Nov. 18 concert by Steven Spooner, professor of piano, and David Dubal, curator and host of the WWFM Classical Network radio show “Piano Matters.” The concert will be recorded for "Piano Matters."

Also in the fall, the KU Symphony Orchestra will perform on Nov. 6 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kanas City, Missouri and will join with KU Choirs for Vespers on the Road on Dec. 1 at the Carlsen Center in Overland Park.

To celebrate Kansas Day on Jan. 29, KU Choirs will perform at the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. On April 8, KU Choirs will sing with high school choir ensembles from around the region for The KU Choral Festival: The Joy of Singing at the Kauffman Center.

Along with concerts, the Partnership for the Arts season includes master classes, teaching residencies and workshops, all of which are open to the public.